‘No. I’ve promised to tek young Robin out fishing.’
‘He’s got his feet well under ’table, hasn’t he?’ Jack commented. ‘Somebody must know who he is and where he’s from.’
His father had nodded. ‘I think you’re right, Jack; I expect I’ll find out sooner or later. There’s some reason why it’s such a big secret and if your ma knows she’ll tell me eventually.’ He’d put his hand on his son’s shoulder. ‘Good luck wi’ the decorating!’
Aaron walked the girls back home across the field to Foggit’s farm after dinner and lifted them over the fence, reminding himself that he must make a gate so that they could come and go as they pleased.
The house was quiet when he came back and he asked Peggy where Molly and Robin were.
‘They’re in ’parlour. Robin is trying to teach her to read ready for school tomorrow. I’m a bit bothered about her,’ she admitted anxiously. ‘I hope she’ll be all right; she doesn’t take easily to other people telling her what to do. I hope ’schoolmistress and ’headmaster will understand her.’
‘They’ll be used to children’s behaviour,’ he said calmly. ‘I’m sure there’s no need to worry.’ He sat down in one of the fireside chairs. ‘Come and sit down,’ he said. ‘I want to ask you summat, Peggy love.’
Peggy knew that coaxing voice well and cautiously sat down. He was always so patient, always prepared to wait for the right moment to ask a question that she knew would eventually come.
‘It’s about Robin,’ he said. ‘It’s ’way he talks about his mother. As if he knows where she is. Does he? And do you?’
Peggy took a deep breath; she knew that she couldn’t keep this from him any longer. ‘I don’t know where she is, Aaron, except that she’s somewhere in Hull, and you know I’d never lie to you; but I now know who she is, and it’s a sad story.’
‘Go on then,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m listening.’
‘Do you remember Jenny’s friend from when she was onny little?’
He lifted his chin and his eyes to the ceiling as he cast his mind back. ‘I onny recall Jenny ever having one close friend and that was ’Deakins’ daughter. Dorothy, wasn’t it? They went to school together and came home together, and she sometimes came here but never had time to play and allus had to rush off home.’ His forehead creased. ‘Where did she go off to? I think I asked you a time or two back if she’d gone into service.’
‘Aye.’ Peggy nodded. ‘I think we all thought that, but of course neither of ’Deakins ever spoke to anybody, and now I come to think of it there was talk at ’post office wi’ folk trying to guess where she might have gone.’ She gave a slight shake of her head. ‘She could’ve been dead for all we knew, but none of us thought to tek it any further; shame on us!’
‘So – what!’ Aaron leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. ‘She’s not dead, is she? Not that young lass?’
‘No, no, she’s not. Some lad …’ She faltered. ‘Some lad took advantage of her, and … well, she got caught wi’ a child.’ She gazed straight at Aaron. ‘And when her ma and da found out she was expecting, they told her to leave; turned her out of their house.’ Peggy’s voice caught in her throat and cracked. ‘She called here one day; she must have wanted to talk to Jenny but she wasn’t here. It was during ’time she was studying in Hull.’
Peggy took a handkerchief out of her skirt pocket and wiped her eyes, and was about to continue when the hall door burst open and Molly rushed in brandishing a book.
‘I can read,’ she said triumphantly. ‘Will you listen to me?’ and without waiting for an answer she sat cross-legged on the floor, her skirt up to her knees and her drawers showing, and proceeded to read, slowly and laboriously, and Aaron and Peggy listened patiently until she got to the bottom of the page.
‘Well done, Molly,’ Aaron said kindly. ‘Can you learn ’next page?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Robin’s going to teach me.’ She got up and went back into the parlour, carefully closing the door behind her.
‘So where did she go?’ Aaron asked, continuing their conversation.
Peggy shook her head. ‘I don’t know. But she had a son and that young son is now in ’parlour teaching our Molly to read.’
Aaron got up from his chair and gazed down at the top of Peggy’s head. ‘How long have you known?’
‘Not long,’ she murmured. ‘When our Jenny came home last time and took Robin into Hull, do you remember? She said she was going to give him a present. She must have met Dorothy somehow or other and I don’t know all ’ins and outs of it, cos there never seems time to talk when she comes.’
She looked up at him. ‘But Jenny told me that day when they came back from Hull that he was Dorothy’s child and that she, Dorothy, was at her wits’ end trying to find work and bring him up. Jenny was about to tell me more when you and Jack came in and she clammed up. She asked me to keep it secret for ’time being.’
Aaron sat down again. ‘So ’Deakins don’t know owt about her or her bairn being in ’district?’
Again Peggy shook her head. ‘No, and neither does she want them to know.’
Aaron muttered beneath his breath. He didn’t often swear but she knew he was swearing now.
‘What would you like to do?’ she asked.
He looked at her. ‘What do you mean, what would I like to do?’
‘I mean, does it make a difference as to how you feel about him being here with us?’
Aaron contemplated her but seemingly without comprehending her words. Then he said, ‘Well, where
